Chapter 2 Hole in the roof
When Link woke, a good long while later, his leg and head throbbed. His eyes could not withstand all the light they saw and were quickly shut again, but not before he had registered that it was not the sky above him. He was lay on his back on what felt like a wooden floor, and he had to wonder where he was. After a moment he opened his eyes again and blinked away the fuzziness from sleep. He reach out to rub a hand over his eyes and realised.
He was no longer a wolf, just how long had he been out?
Link sat up, rubbing his face with his hands before his attention was diverted to his leg, his left trouser leg was stained with blood, and it was most definately his own. His hair also felt matted and was flattened, like a wary, defeated wolf's fur. Just what had happened? He then made another discovery, he was in the corner of a house, and it looked to him to be Fado's house, he was in the back room which had a hole in the roof - allowing sunshine to pour in; as well as the rain - and he had obviously been thrown in the corner. He stood up and walked to the door, reaching to open it, before he realised that the reason no light shone through underneath was because it was barricaded. Great.
Walking into the center, he studied the hole in the roof. It had enough grip to use his clawshot, there was a sheet of ivy that it could cling to, hung over the edge. Except his clawshot was in his house. Double Great. He glanced around until his eyes rested on a crate. There was no way he could move it whilst his leg was so sore, so he clambered, albeit clumsily, onto it, before turning at staring at the ivy. Before he could double think he lept, arms outstretched to grab it. Would he make it? Had he stretched far enough?
Yes, he had.
He winced as he swung painfully, before pulling himself up and then over the edge. He just lay for a minute before getting up and hobbling down the path, avoiding the spilt bees-hive and then toward his home, it was about mid-day, and everybody was busy, Rusl was nowhere to be seen, Fado was with the goats, Jaggle was tending his pumpkins, Pergie no doubt cooking their dinner indoors, Sera was running her shop and fussing over her troublesome cat, Hanch wasn't on his perch.
Wait, Hanch wasn't on the perch?
Link looked around, and realised he could not see Hanch nor the mayor anywhere. Maybe they were off talking about more watch-outs after his wolfy visit? He hurried on towards his home, his leg was throbbing and he was sure the wound had re-opened. Just had to get up that ladder, in the door and he could take some blue chu jelly, or red, or whatever potion he had.
He stoped at the ladder, and looked at it despairingly, before slowly heaving himself upwards, trying to only use his hands and his right leg. It took him a while, but he managed. He pulled open his door and stumbled to the cupboard, pulling it open and grabbing his jar. He downed the blue potion and closed his eyes, smiling at the familiar feeling of tingling and healing. Putting the lid back on and placing the bottle back on the shelf, he turned around..
and found the kids staring at him.
He jumped, he hadn't even noticed them! He ran a hand unconciously through his matted and tangled blonde hair and smiled self-conciously. The kids seemed to be nervous about something, and he was sure he noticed Taro edging Beth towards the door. Colin didn't seem to know where to look and Malo was just scowling; which was nothing new. He shrugged and moved off toward his fire, stirring the embers and adding a log to the almost-gone flickering flame. The flame accepted the log greedily, eating it up. Link turned and sat down on the floor, back against the wall.
"Why did you visit me today?" He asked tiredly, it was a question he had asked often, but it held a weight now it never had. Where they just trying to believe it was just some sort of random wolf that had chased them to the village? Were they trying to convince themselves Link was Link, their hero, nothing more? Or did they know, or atleast know some of it, and now wanted the truth?
He wasn't sure if he could tell them the truth.
"Was....was last night, real?" It was Beth who voiced the question, nervous and stressed from the stretching silence that Link had no more intentions of breaking.
"As real as I am." It was a startling reply for the kids. Link had to be real, right? But if 'that' was real as he was, then he couldn't be very real as 'real' is not a man who turns wolf, right? So was it a dream or a reality? They shook their heads in confusion.
"I guess...I guess you told, right?" they all nodded shyly, but it was Talo who answered.
"We did," he recalled, "but they would not believe us, about it being you I mean. They thought it was just some old wolf." he finished quickly.
"Well, they'll believe you soon enough, I mean, a wolf cannot get out of Fados barricaded back room, right? I guess I'll be in for it. Suprised they don't have the goats pitchforks on me now. Bet they'll blame me for that goat a fortnight ago. Wasn't me though." He trailed off. He stood abruptly, and began throwing all his stuff into his bags, which he in turn put into the magic belt. He also put his tunic, Zora armour and Magic amour into the pouches, grateful they were magic pouches and held so much so lightly and compactly. He turned, after slinging his belt on, and picked up Epona's tack. Piling his sword and shields ontop of the saddle, he edged through the door and swung down the ladder with only one arm. Lifting his charm he called Epona, tacked her up and attatched his sword and shield to his back, his spare Ordon shield stored safely in Epona's packs. The kids didn't know what to say, so he called them down, locked his door and headed back to the village.
He realised it must have been later than midday when he escaped Fado's house, because twilight was settling over the village. He could feel his hand begin throbbing, his triforce pulsing with light. He focused on pushing out the twilight. The only nights he could not refuse the siren call of twilight and his wolf form were on the nights of full moons, and new moons. His teeth gritted, he lifted his hand and stared at the glowing triforce emblem. Courage, Wisdom and Power, the gifts of Farore, Nayru and Din. He thought over why Farores gift had been given to him. All the legends of heros past talked about a young boy with no parents, of no real status appearing from nowhere. People thought lowly of Ordon, he was the only orphan in Ordon, and the only one with a horse. Was that why he was blessed with undoubtable courage?
"Whats that on your hand, Link?"
The deep voice of Rusl made Link jump, and he turned sheepishly. Rusl had a fatherly smile but his brows were knitted. Link recognized the expression; he wasn't going to get away with anything but the full truth. He nodded and made jestures with his eyes towards the kids. Rusl sent them off and they headed toward the goat paddock, the silence was tense and heavy, Link was drinking in the village, realising it could be the last time he ever saw it. They sat down near the horse-grass at the top end of the paddock, and Link closed his eyes as the last of the twilight faded and the restlessness eased in him. He sighed and the pulsing of the triforce ebbed away slowly.
"That is the mark of blessing." He began. "A mark of blessing from the gods. A blessing of power. Only 3 people can ever possess it at a time, and there is not always somebody alive with the blessing." He knew most of this from a conversation with Zelda and Midna after the defeat of Gannondorf. Minda, he had to stop thinking of her, it hurt to much! They'd been discussing where the power shard had faded to, and they came up with no answers.
"Why am I even telling you this?"
"Because I asked, I want to know." Rusl said sternly. "Everything." Link ran a hand over his pointed ear and sighed, paused and carried on.
"I'm blessed by Farore, I'm blessed with courage. I cannot stand down." He paused, thinking about how many horrors he had faced, unfazed by any - just slaying, getting what he needed and moving on - and how any other man, even the bravest would have stood back, ran or died, would had the choice to do any. "My blessing has also maifested itself differently to previous heros, who could wield magic, change night to day, day to night, control winds and all sorts." He mulled it over, before turning his brilliant blue eyes on Rusl, and remembering another coversation between them, a long time ago..
"Remember when you said, before it all started, 'Have you ever felt a strange sadness as dusk falls? They say it's the lingering spirits of those no longer in our world. They say it's the only time our world intersects with theirs.' Do you remember?" Rusl nodded. "Well, we are not the only realm. Theres another, probably more, the Twilight Realm. At twilight, our realms intersect, overlap. Before it never affected Hyrule, maybe the feeling of regret or sorrow felt, but never anything more. Then King Zant broke through, stormed the castle, spread twilight over our world. Thats the day I was to leave for Hyrule. Then in the spring the ogre king came into the spring with his followers. I'd given Talo my sword, and I wouldn't have been able to fight them anyway, not on boars. They knocked me out, and stole Ilia and the kids."
Link drew a deep breath and continued. "When I came to, I followed. A black wall blocked my way to Faron - did you notice it?- and then a arm reached out, dragged me inside. I was pulled into the twilight-cloaked Hyrule. All sounds are loud and quiet at the same time, they echo and boom and yet sound hollow...it's so strange. Anyhows, what I had always thought of a tattoo I'd got as kid or a strange birth mark lit up, blinded the creature till it stopped strangling me and....and.." he trailed off. How to tell him?
"Thats when you discovered you could become a wolf, right?" Rusl asked. Link jumped and shrank back. He hadn't realised anybody knew, he had been hoping he'd transformed after being thrown into Fado's room and left alone. So he nodded sheepishly.
"Did I transform infront of everyone?"
"No. I was just checking there was no way for the wolf to get out when the shadows seemed to move. All the light, even though I thought there had been none in your corner, was sucked into you then there you were, lay bleeding. I panicked. I've never seen magic before, never believed in it either, and I did not know if it was really you or not. I barricaded the room." Link winced.
"I know, I had to drag myself to the crate, and leap and pray that my hands grabbed the ivy, and that I didn't land on my slashed leg. Who knew mayor Bo was so handy with a double ended spear?" He joked dryly. He got up and dusted off his trousers. "I managed to get some blue potion from my cupboard before I realised the kids were with me. They were scared of me, but I don't blame 'em. I guess seeing your hero turn into a wolf then leap at you isn't the most reassuring thing. But I couldn't exactly tell them to go home, and they would not return if I padded off to the village. I had to chase them home. I asked Faron to make sure they got safe passage through the woods."
Link helped Rusl up,and they began walking toward the gate. "I can't control my wolf half on full and new moons, though I get the pull of twilight every evening now since I visted the twilight realm, but it's not incontrolable on normal days so -"
"wait - you've been to the twilight realm?" Link rubbed a hand over his eyes, not believing how many details were slipping.
"I'm sure it'll be raging gossip through Ordon by the morning. Yes, and come back. I've met the princess of both realms, fought beside both, and seen the link between the two realms shattered." Link looked up to see Ilia waiting by the gate. She smiled brightly and greeted them.
"My father wants you both to attend his meeting."
Authors Notes
I would like to thank all the reviewers from my first chapter, aswell as those who faved and put this story on their alerts. I came on to find so many emails about it, and logged straight in, not quite believing what I was seeing. This sounds corny but it really made me smile. I was beaming at the computer screen for quite afew minutes and even as I type this I am smiling. So thank you.
I try not to make my story lines or plots cliche or with ideas that are over-used. I know how boring it can get for readers as I've spent so many hours trawling through this site trying to find good fanfictions. I also try to give the characters a personality similar to that they portray in the game, and I know I've completely messed that up on Rusl, well on most of them. So please forgive me.
I did not intend to put this chapter up so quick, but I had it written and the positive comments just spurred me to put it up now.
Once again, reviews are helpful, a short list of good points, bad points, spelling errors and anything else you would like to include. Reviews are the rewards for the authors efforts and I know that I certainly read them and appreciate them.
Please note this story is written using Standard-English not American English, so there may be some spelling variations. Feel free to point out any glaring errors or typos in my work.
Merci et Auvior,
Ritakna
(I'm not sure why my heart didn't work last chapter and just showed up as a three, so I won't try it again :P )
